Abstract
Atmospheric plasmas have traditionally been used as a non-chemical etching process for polymers, but the characteristics of these
plasmas could very well be exploited for metals for purposes more than surface cleaning that is presently employed. This paper focuses
on how the corona discharge process modifies aluminium AA 1050 surface, the oxide growth and resulting corrosion properties. The
corona treatment is carried out in atmospheric air. Treated surfaces are characterized using XPS, SEM/EDS, and FIB-FESEM and
results suggest that an oxide layer is grown, consisting of mixture of oxide and hydroxide. The thickness of the oxide layer extends
to 150–300 nm after prolonged treatment. Potentiodynamic polarization experiments show that the corona treatment reduces anodic
reactivity of the surface significantly and a moderate reduction of the cathodic reactivity.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Corrosion Science |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 5 |
Pages (from-to) | 1321-1330 |
ISSN | 0010-938X |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Keywords
- Oxide Coatings
- XPS
- Corona discharge treatment
- Aluminium
- Polarization